Obligations
by Pegasus
Summary: The years between leaving Hogwarts and the rest of the histories is a mystery. So here's my spin on it. Chapter One - looking for positive feedback to continue.
1. Visions

Disclaimer: The characters and settings, and probably some of the teacups depicted herein are most likely the property of those *delightful* people at Warner Brothers by way of the inimitable J K Rowling. I am not making a penny from using them as the backdrop to a story written for my own amusement and that (hopefully!) of others. So there.

email me at Sarah.Watkins@onyx.net

**Obligations**

**Chapter One: Visions**

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Sirius could still remember the first time he had seen Remus like this, post transformation from wolf to man. Then it had been a terrifying experience. Now it was almost marred by the impatience of waiting. 

Eventually, the terrible transformation ceased and Remus stood, sweating, covered in blood - most of which was his own - and looking vulnerable and lost. Sirius watched him silently, before moving towards him with a blanket. The young man's hazel eyes picked up the glistening light thrown out by the dying embers of the fire and when they turned to Sirius, were full of terrible sadness. Turning away, Sirius banked up the fire before finally turning once more to face the werewolf – his friend. 

His eyes were drawn, as always to the oval scar in Remus' side, the scar that marked him as different, the legacy of the werewolf that had bitten him all those years ago. Every time Sirius saw that scar, he shuddered. Not out of fear, but out of pity and sympathy - two emotions which he knew Remus Lupin despised, especially coming from his friends. 

The eyes that were still full of pain and bemused confusion from the transformation swung towards Sirius, and Remus' face broke into a slightly bitter smile that melted into an expression of warmth. Sirius smiled back and crossed the short distance that separated them, putting his arms around Remus and embracing him swiftly. 

"Welcome back, Moony."

"You waited for me. Again."

Doubt? This was not something Sirius had heard in Remus' voice before. Remus was the cool headed, rational one of the Marauders. The one who stopped the others from making TOO much trouble, who came up with half the plans in the first place. He was, to coin a phrase, the brains of the outfit. He, Sirius, was the impulsive, more impetuous one. But right now, Remus sounded...almost as though he no longer understood what it was that had kept the four friends so closely bonded all these years. 

Studying his friend's face carefully was fruitless. Lupin's face was a stoic mask. "Of course I waited for you. You are my friend, Remus. You surely don't doubt that?" 

"Of course I doubt it," said Remus, in a strange, wistful sort of way that unnerved Sirius to the very core. "Why wouldn't I?" 

"Oh, Remus, do you really think that little of me? Of any of us?" Sirius was hurt that his friend could still not, even after all these years, consider - even for a moment - that he was not loved, not cared about. "I told you all those years ago. I would die for you. For James. For Peter. You are my friend and I promised I would always be here for you." 

"That's the point, isn't it, Sirius?" Remus' eyes, glowing in the firelight closed. "You have nothing else. Every month you are by my side. You've never known what it is to...to leave me. To branch out on your own like Peter and James have. To be yourself for once and not my keeper." Lupin sat down heavily in one of the chairs in front of the fire. "I'm holding you back and that makes me feel so terribly, terribly guilty." 

Slightly irritable, Sirius folded his arms defiantly. "You want me to leave you on your own? Is that it?"

This was the Sirius that Remus Lupin knew and remembered. The stubborn boy who would stand as solid as a rock for what he believed in and be knocked down by nobody or nothing once his mind was made up. 

There was a long silence, and during that time, Remus refused to meet Sirius' eyes. The werewolf stared into the dancing flames and then finally spoke. "No." he said. "I don't want you to leave. But you will." 

"Remus, what IS this?" Sirius was becoming exasperated by his friend's mysterious manner, his cryptic words. "What's happened to you?" 

"Last night..." Finally, Remus turned to look directly at Sirius and there was a deep pain in his eyes that made Sirius yearn to hug his friend close, but he kept his distance, caught up in the expression on Remus' face. "Last night, I left the Shack. I went out. And...oh, Sirius..." 

Remus suddenly broke off in a sob, burying his face in his hands. This was more than Sirius could bear. He moved to Remus' side and lay a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Remus...what happened?" He knew, of course. This reaction could only have been brought about by one thing. 

Remus had bitten someone. 

"You warned me it would happen one day, Sirius, and you were right," said Remus, sniffing back the tears. "But I never listened to you. I believed I could learn to master the monster that I am." 

"Who?" 

"Does it matter?" Remus brushed aside the question angrily. "The fact is, Sirius, I BIT someone. Last night, I called another werewolf into being. I SIRED them. And..." He chewed his lip, and hung his head. "The gods forgive me, I loved it. It was...fulfilling. It felt right. It was something I'd always wanted to do, but managed to resist." 

Sirius was silent. Remus continued, wretchedly. "It's like a drug, Sirius. And now I've had my first taste of it, I don't know that I can turn my back on it." 

This was the moment that Sirius had always been afraid might happen. The day that Lupin decided he wanted to live the life of a werewolf, a creature of darkness, and cease being the fun-loving, lighthearted man that Sirius Black would quite willingly die for. 

"You must, Remus," said Sirius, firmly. "You must be stronger than this." 

"You can't even begin to understand it, Sirius," said Remus, almost snappishly, ignoring the look of hurt in Sirius' blue eyes. "It's a primal urge. When I transform, I don't quite understand what happens to me. But I remember afterwards...and I remember biting that person last night." 

"Did you know them?" 

"No. I didn't know them." 

Sirius was curious, despite the underlying horror he felt at what Lupin had done. "Was it a man? A woman? A child? Wizard or Muggle?" 

"Stop it!" Remus clasped his hands over his ears. "No more questions, Sirius!" 

"I'm sorry, Remus. I don't want to hurt you. I just so want to understand what drives you..." 

"What drives me, Sirius, is the need to transform once a month. Nothing else. If I didn't have that, what would I be to you? Just another wizard. Nothing special, noone of consequence." 

"Absolute crap." Sirius was more vehement than he meant to be, but calmed himself down. "You were the brightest student in Gryffindor. If people knew that it was you who helped me and James get top marks while yours suffered…" They had made a pact with Remus long ago. He _enjoyed _seeing his friends succeed – although he'd given Peter Pettigrew up as a lost cause. 

Remus waved aside Sirius' defence almost idly. "I'm nobody special, Sirius," he reiterated. "Just another guy. Just a twenty-two year old wizard who can't sever the ties with Hogsmeade simply because he got so used to the Shrieking Shack." He looked around the rickety house with barely concealed dislike. "You and James and Lily and Peter…you have the world at your feet. All I have at my feet…" He looked down, and for the first time realised he was still naked beneath the blanket. "Is the floor." 

He moved across the room to the chest of drawers where he'd put his clothes and pulled them on. "I want to be like you," Remus carried on. "But I'll never be like you. I sometimes feel…" 

He fell silent and moved to stand in front of the mirror, wincing at the lacerations on his arms and chest. He slid the robe over his slender shoulders and it fell in soft waves, covering the evidence of his self mutilation. Sirius remained silent and watched the other man carefully. He'd never seen Remus like this. 

"Sometimes I feel that I need to be with my own kind," Remus finished, slowly. "Other…you know. Werewolves. Perhaps that's why I lost control. Perhaps that's why I went out and bit someone. Because I need someone who…who's like me. Who understands what transformation is like, who…" 

Sirius could feel desperation, cold, violent, almost all-consuming welling up in his throat. "I know what transformation's like, Remus," he blurted, and almost instantly the tall young man had vanished to be replaced by a shaggy-coated, bear-like dog. Despite his current sense of concern, Remus cracked a smile as the dog stared up at him with huge, brown eyes and wagged its tail. 

"Padfoot…" He patted the dog's head, gently. "Padfoot, change back." 

The dog whined slightly and put its head on one side. Remus turned away, stifling a laugh. There was something so appealing about Sirius-in-Dog-Form. But now was not the time for tickling Sirius' tummy. He forced himself to look stern. "Change back." 

There was a pause, then an inrush of air. Sirius pouted at Remus. "You're no fun sometimes, Moony." 

"We have to find my…" He balked at the word 'victim'. It seemed so…unlike him. Yet… 

Remus Lupin was no fool. He knew that the driving force of the lycanthrope was to spread its taint, to bring the moon-lust to as many humans as he could manage. Yet in his twenty two years of life, only six of which had been werewolf-free, Remus Lupin had controlled that insatiable urge. He was unfailingly proud of that achievement, and now he had broken it. 

Sirius sighed and patted Remus gently on the arm. "Your new companion. I know, Moony. I know." 

Remus looked at him gratefully. Sirius had the uncanny knack of making everything seem somehow brighter. He considered the other man for a while, then sighed. 

"We can't tell Peter or James. Or Lily, for that matter." James' fiancée, whilst dear to Remus' heart was still…well, who she was. That she had gently rent their seemingly unbreakable foursome asunder had left a raw and bleeding wound somewhere in Remus' soul. It was sheer jealousy and well he knew it, but still. 

_We can't tell. _

_We can't tell… _

How well those words stuck in Remus' mind. How constant and vivid the memory of them. Unwilling to succumb to the memory, he dug his nails into the flesh of his arm, but still the memory assailed him. 

* * * 

"Remus! Come back here!" 

"Mama, I only want to run on ahead..." The six-year old boy with the untidy light brown hair and large, intelligent hazel eyes pouted at his mother. "It's not often we get out this far from home..." 

"Walk with your mother, Remus." His father, a burly, well-muscled man was walking alongside the slender, pretty woman who had called his name. Remus both loved and respected that man. But there was something about him tonight...something about the gun that was over his shoulder. He was on a mission this night, and a mission that would not be denied. 

Remus slowed down his youthful run and fell into step next to his mother, slipping his small hand into hers. 

"Your father wanted us to come with him on this hunt, Remus. There is something out there that's been killing all the livestock on the farms and it is your father's duty to the village to do something about it." Remus' father was the village peacekeeper, and the little boy nodded sagely. His mother continued, pushing a lock of hair out of her son's eyes. "He did not want to leave us alone and unprotected. So we must stay with him. Do you understand?" 

"Yes, mama, I understand." Remus was a good boy, she thought, squeezing the child's hand affectionately. Good, well-mannered, quiet and gentle, her son was growing into a person she was becoming very proud of. 

The family continued walking. 

And not one of them had noticed the glittering eyes in the shadows that had watched their progress. 

Until it was too late. 

Until Remus had screamed in sheer terror as the huge beast leaped out of the darkness, knocking him away from his mother and pressing him to the ground. Briefly, as fleeting as a snowflake, Remus' eyes had locked with those of his assailant and he was filled with the hideous knowledge of what was going to happen. 

Then the teeth had sunk into his side and he had remembered no more. 

* * * 

When he had regained consciousness the following day, Remus was lying in his own bed, a bandage wrapped around his torso. Through his haze, he could make out the voices of his parents talking in low, anxious voices. 

"It was a werewolf. It bit him. I have to do this." 

"You can't! He is our son!" 

"He will become a monster, Claudia." 

Remus did not understand what they were speaking about and tried, unsuccessfully, to sit up. 

"You can't go in there and kill a helpless child! Anton, I'm begging you! There must be...another way..." 

"Don't cry, mama," he tried to say, but no words came out. 

"We can't tell! You saw what he changed in to, lying in the square. Just thank the gods that he is so weak that the attack left him unconscious! Claudia - he will become a monster with the ebb and flow of the moon's cycle! Do you think he will survive that? Claudia, understand this. We can't tell." 

"You can't kill him..." His mother's tears engulfed her words and Remus knew fear for the second time in two days as the door to his room opened and his father's heavy footfall could be heard walking towards the bed. 

"Forgive me, Remus," he whispered, looking down into his son's open eyes, the childish, terrified face. "This is for your own good." 

And Remus found himself looking down the barrel of his father's shotgun. 

He squeezed his eyes shut. 

There was a single gunshot. 

* * * 

"Remus!" 

Sirius touched his friend lightly on the arm. The other man jumped as reality settled on him again. Sirius' eyes softened. "Again?" 

Remus nodded. "Again." The dream, the vision – call it what you will – had been growing steadily stronger for some days now, and Remus could find no discernible reason for it. He had relived that moment one too many times and maybe it was the underlying cause of his urge to bite. 

Maybe. 

He sighed into the dying fire. 

"Let's go see James," he said, eventually. 


	2. Godric's Hollow

Disclaimer: The characters and settings, and probably some of the teacups depicted herein are most likely the property of those *delightful* people at Warner Brothers by way of the inimitable J K Rowling. I am not making a penny from using them as the backdrop to a story written for my own amusement and that (hopefully!) of others. So there.

email me at Sarah.Watkins@onyx.net

**Obligations**

**Chapter Two: Godric's Hollow**

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

James hadn't been in the house in Godric's Hollow all that long, but he'd already made his mark on it. Well, to be more precise, Lily had made her mark on it. Despite the fact they were not due to marry until later the following year, Lily had already taken to visiting and had insisted on decorating.

As he watched her on this particularly crisp morning, he marvelled again at how a girl as pretty and bright as Lily Evans had ever agreed to be his wife. He'd worried for a while, thinking that she was never going to split up with Sirius. The two had been virtually inseparable. Or so he had believed. It had been a ploy on Sirius' part to get Lily closer to James. 

So he said. 

Another debt owed to Sirius Black. James sighed. The tally was becoming rather unfortunately stacked in Sirius' favour. Something which no doubt his best friend would not hesitate to remind him. 

The red-haired young woman currently stripping wallpaper the Muggle way turned at his sigh. "James? What's the matter?" 

"Nothing, love. I was just wondering how Sirius and Remus are. Haven't seen either of them for a while." Peter, of course, visited regularly. He hadn't changed at all since they had all graduated. He was still as ingratiating as ever, but James couldn't turn away one of the Marauders. 

"I expect they'll turn up soon. They always do," she said, climbing down the ladder and moving to put her arms around his neck. "Usually at the most inopportune moments as I recall…" 

She pressed her lips to his in a gentle kiss and he responded eagerly, wrapping his arms a little more tightly around him. 

The doorbell rang. 

Lily laughed and her green eyes shone with mischief. "There. You see? Guaranteed." Raising her voice, she called, "Come in Sirius." 

The front door, always unlocked during the day, swung open and Sirius peered in. "Alright, how did you know it was me?" 

"Call it a hunch," she said, moving over to him and standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek gently. "You're looking well, Sirius." 

"Not as well as you," he replied, in his normal gallant manner. "Wow, Lily, you look fantastic. Perhaps you might like to reconsider…" Raising her hand to his lips, he kissed it gently, casting a sly glance slantwise at James who was stood looking decidedly annoyed at the interruption. 

"Get off my fiancée, Padfoot," said James, mildly. "There's plenty of women out there for you." 

"You never **were** much fun, were you, Prongs?" Sirius clapped his hand in a handshake, then turned and bellowed out the door. "Moony! Get your furry butt inside here!" 

"You brought Remus?" Lily couldn't hide the faint hint of uncertainty in her voice. Whilst she was undoubtedly fond of the fourth Marauder, she was also very aware of the animosity he bore towards her for having been the cause of the drifting apart of their boyhood group. 

"Not so much brought as dragged," said Sirius, grinning. "He didn't want to come, so I had to haul him by the tail. MOONY!" 

Eventually, Sirius had to go back outside to find Remus, who was standing looking somewhat forlorn by Sirius' new motorbike. Folding his arms across his chest, Sirius called to his friend. "You coming in, or what?" 

"S'pose." Remus shrugged his slender shoulders. "Is…Lily there?" 

"Where else would she be? Come on, Remus. Forget it. She's going to be James' wife and there's nothing any of us can do about it. I know how you feel about that…" 

"Forget it." Remus forced a smile on his face and together, he and Sirius entered the house. James pounded him rather too hard on the back and he began coughing painfully. Lily gave him a dutiful kiss on the cheek and asked politely about his health in a voice which, to Remus, had hidden tones of 'what, you're not dead yet?' tucked away under the light tone. 

It had been only a few weeks since Sirius had last visited, but Remus kept his trips out of Hogsmeade to something of a minimum. Still afraid to cut the ties with the Shrieking Shack, the young man had rapidly become a virtual recluse. He hadn't seen James for the better part of a year, and James was struck by how the youngest Marauder had changed. 

"You don't look so well, Remus," he said, pouring butterbeers for them all and handing Remus. "You been sick again?" 

"Only the usual," replied Remus, accepting the drink politely and sipping at it. "Doesn't get any easier, I guess. It helps knowing that Dumbledore is just up the hill…" 

"You can't rely on him forever," said Lily, in a light tone and Remus could almost feel the withering scorn she felt at the continuing weakness he displayed. He could not look her in the eye as he replied. 

"He is the closest I have to family, you know." Lily's eyes that had been as hard as emeralds for a moment, softened and she put a hand on his arm. 

"I know, Remus. I'm sorry." 

And she was, oddly. 

Sirius, who had already downed three butterbeers and was now on his first glass of pumpkin brandy, interjected. "I'm glad you mentioned that, Remus. Knew there was a reason we'd come over." 

Lily removed her hand from Remus', the moment shattered. The young werewolf looked up at her and their glances touched briefly before he nodded. "I've been having nightmares again, James." 

James set down his glass and looked at his friend with concern. "The old ones?" 

He nodded. James exchanged a look with Sirius. "As bad as they used to be when you were at school?" He remembered all too well the times he, Sirius and Peter had tried to wake the boy who would lie, screaming out his father's name until he grew hoarse. Remus considered. 

"Sort of," he replied, eventually, his voice heavy. "But it's different. They come on me during the daytime now, too. I can be in just a light daydream and the dream comes at me from all angles." 

"Are you taking any weird potions or anything?" James glanced at Sirius again and the two friends exchanged concerned looks. Remus was delicate, fragile, as sickly as he had always been, yet there exuded from him that odd strength, the physical strength of the lycanthrope tempered by the strength that Remus Lupin the human possessed – the strength that had kept him sane all these years. 

Remus shook his head. "I know that work has begun on a new potion they're calling 'Wolfsbane'. I wish they'd hurry up with it. Rumour has it that it will help keep my mind human during Transformation. But just now…there's nothing that helps. I Transform, I rip myself damn near to shreds, I change back." 

"And what do you do the rest of the time?" 

Remus shrugged. "I…study." 

Sirius grinned. "We always did call you 'Professor' Lupin, didn't we? You always were going to be the one who carried on learning after school." Remus glanced at him and managed a wan smile. Sirius' handsome face was slightly red from the alcohol and he was more cocksure and vocal than ever. 

"Remus," began Lily. "Do you remember the dream at all? I mean, surely if you tell us what it's about, we might be able to help you interpret it?" 

"I remember it vividly, Lily," replied Remus, heavily. "But it does not need interpreting. It isn't so much a dream as a…memory." 

"Forgive me, Remus," he whispered, looking down into his son's open eyes, the childish, terrified face. "This is for your own good."

_And Remus found himself looking down the barrel of his father's shotgun. _

_He squeezed his eyes shut. _

_There was a single gunshot. _

"Remus?"

Lily's voice cut through his reverie and he started, spilling his barely-touched butterbeer. He stared wildly around, trying to orient himself, and gradually began to calm down. Lily got to her feet. "I'm going to get in touch with Dumbledore. He needs help, Sirius. Why did you bring him to us?" 

Sirius sighed. "He needs James' help. Only James is going to be able to help him with this one." 

"Well, I think Dumbledore should be told…" 

"Don't, Lily. Sit down." 

James' voice was uncharacteristically firm and Lily turned to him, incredulity in her eyes. He spoke a little louder. 

"I said, sit DOWN, Lily." 

She did, not wishing to see his ire increase any more than it was already. She fell silent as her husband-to-be got to his feet and paced the carpet silently. 

"Who did you bite, Remus?" 

There was an intake of breath from Lily which Sirius silenced by putting his arm around her shoulders. "Come with me," he said, softly, leading her out of the room. 

Remus did not answer. 

"Remus – I know you've bitten someone. It's written all over your face. I didn't fall down on the last drop of rain, you know. Sirius always said to me the only reason he'd force you to come visit would be if you bit someone. Now unless you really want to be here…" He raised his hand, forestalling the other man's protest, "…I suggest you tell me what happened so we can sort out the mess." 

This was the James Potter who had led the Marauders for all those years. The James Potter that Peter Pettigrew had hero-worshipped in an obvious sort of way, and the James Potter who Remus Lupin had quietly admired. He hung his head, his prematurely greying hair falling into his eyes. 

"I don't know," he replied, softly. "I know that I bit…_someone_. But I don't know who…or why." 

"Did you…" James hesitated. "Did you kill them, or just bite them?" 

"I think…I think I killed them." Remus' voice was so soft it was barely a whisper, yet seemed to resonate through James' head. _I think I killed them…I think I killed them…_

He pulled himself together. Remus needed him now. To fall apart in a panic over his friend's ability to murder would do nobody any good whatsoever. He poured another glass of pumpkin brandy and handed it to the werewolf. "Drink," he urged. "It'll help." 

Remus took the glass, his hazel eyes dull and lifeless. "I killed someone, James." 

"Now come on, we don't know that for sure…" 

"I don't WANT to believe I did anything else," said Remus, his voice rising. "I don't want to believe that I've left someone to the same fate as me…I CAN'T believe that. If I have done, it makes me as much a monster as…as him." 

"Him…Remus, are we talking about McGlynn here?" 

At the name of his sire, Remus' pale skin lost every bit of colour. To Remus Lupin, hearing the name of McGlynn was every bit as horrific as hearing the name Voldemort. He covered his eyes, hiding the tears that threatened, and nodded wordlessly. 

"Have you seen him again?" 

Remus had, to the best of his knowledge, seen McGlynn only twice. Following his initial attack and once, when Remus had been thirteen years old, the old werewolf had tracked his protégé down to Hogwarts. Dumbledore had seen him off though, and Remus had been fairly certain that it would be the last time he ever saw the man. 

But… 

The return of the vision… 

The craving, the urge, the desperate need to kill, or at the very least to procreate the lycanthropic way. 

Had McGlynn returned? 

Remus' world began to swirl around him at the thought and before James could reach him, he had dropped the glass of brandy. Consciousness left him in a dead faint. 

* * * 

"I won't have him in the house, Sirius, I WON'T!" 

Lily was pacing the kitchen in something between uncertainty, anger and sheer terror. "He's dangerous! He's fully grown now, not a child." 

"Lily, every month when Remus transformed – every month, every year, he never changed. He became an adult wolf, regardless of his human age. He is no more dangerous now than he was then. In fact, if anything, he's less so now." 

"How do you figure that?" she said, pausing in her pacing. It was at times like this, Sirius mused, that Lily became more like her older Muggle sister, Petunia. Sirius had met Petunia only twice and both times had entirely failed to impress her. He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass from the next room. 

Lily's eyes rolled momentarily upwards at the sound of the breaking crystalware, but she followed Sirius who had dashed into the dining room. James was kneeling over Remus' prone form, muttering the words of a healing spell. Sirius knelt down beside the two of them and looked from Remus' unconscious face to that of his best friend. 

Only one word passed between them and it was enough to chill Sirius' blood to the very marrow. The one word that, following their adventures in the third year he had hoped they would never hear spoken aloud again. 

"McGlynn." 


	3. McGlynn

Disclaimer: The characters and settings, and probably some of the teacups depicted herein are most likely the property of those *delightful* people at Warner Brothers by way of the inimitable J K Rowling. I am not making a penny from using them as the backdrop to a story written for my own amusement and that (hopefully!) of others. So there.

email me at Sarah.Watkins@onyx.net

**Obligations**

**Chapter Three: McGlynn**

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

"He's been out cold for three hours now," said Sirius, urgently. "There's definitely something wrong with him."

"Of course there is," snapped James as Lily turned to deliver both men a glare that would have silenced a falling tree. "He's GOT to have been back in contact with McGlynn! Think, Sirius. When was the last time he acted like this? Nearly ten years ago. You can't tell me you've forgotten."

"If you two can't keep it down," said Lily, briskly, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Can't you see he needs to rest? For goodness sake." She returned to dabbing a cloth on Remus' forehead, stroking back his hair surprisingly gently. 

James nodded. "Sorry, Lily…and thank you for taking care of him."

"Don't mention it," she said, shortly. "I know he doesn't like me…"

"'s'not true," interrupted Sirius. "He just feels hurt that he hasn't got all his friends around him any more."

"Whatever," said Lily, dismissively, waving her hand at Sirius imperiously. "But I can help him right now and that's all that matters. So either keep it down, or go have your little chat in the sitting room. Alright?"

Remus moaned a little and Lily removed her hand from his shoulder. "He's coming round," she said, quietly, then raised her voice slightly as the two men rushed closer. "Give him some room, for heaven's sake!"

_"We can't tell! You saw what he changed in to, lying in the square. Just thank the gods that he is so weak that the attack left him unconscious! Claudia - he will become a monster with the ebb and flow of the moon's cycle! Do you think he will survive that? Claudia, understand this. We can't tell." _

"Papa…" Remus moaned. "Papa, no…" 

"It's happening again," whispered Sirius. 

_"Forgive me, Remus," he whispered, looking down into his son's open eyes, the childish, terrified face. "This is for your own good." _

The young werewolf thrashed on the bed and Lily backed away slightly, letting the two men come forward to hold him down, preventing him from injuring himself. 

_And Remus found himself looking down the barrel of his father's shotgun. _

_He squeezed his eyes shut. _

"Remus?" called James, softly at first, but with ever-increasing firmness. "Remus! Wake up now. It's only a dream, Remus. Come on." 

_There was a single gunshot. _

An agitated werewolf is not easy to hold down, but somehow Sirius and James managed it between them, waiting patiently for the moment to pass. And pass it did. Remus' eyes snapped open and he stared around him. Finally his breathing returned to normal, his eyes lost the taint of madness and he sat up, slowly. 

"It was McGlynn," he said, his voice low and awed. "All these years…I wouldn't believe it, couldn't believe it…but it was McGlynn!" 

"What was?" James put a supportive hand on the young man's shoulder. "What about McGlynn, Remus?" 

"McGlynn…it was McGlynn who shot my father." 

* * * 

The topic had been a taboo one all these years amongst the Marauders, but now there seemed nothing else to talk about. Lily, giving up the idea of a nice evening alone with her fiancé, retired to the kitchen to at least cook something halfway decent whilst the three young men talked in low voices in the other room. 

It was some two hours later before Peter arrived. She'd known he would. He called round regularly anyway in his capacity as the one who lived the closest, and she'd had no doubt that the lure of seeing Sirius' motorbike outside the door would draw him in. 

"Ah, Lily," he said in his faint squeak of a voice as she threw open the door, a smile so forced on her face that it was more of a grimace. "Is…is Sirius here?" 

"Come in, Peter," she said, resigned. "They're in the front room. All of them," she added, as an afterthought. 

"R..R..Remus too? Why, that's remarkable!" Peter clapped his pudgy little hands together. He constantly reminded Lily of Professor Flitwick. But she couldn't help liking him. For all that he seemed to be prematurely old-fashioned before his time, Peter was…vulnerable, somehow. 

She knew a faint surge of guilt. Today she had seen Remus Lupin as vulnerable for the first time and that had given her cause for alarm. She had spent the years since finding out about Lupin's…condition…convinced that he was likely to turn on them, any of them, at any time. 

Yet when she had seen the terror, the revulsion, the sheer unadulterated fear in the young wizard's face when he'd spoken of this McGlynn character… 

The pastry she was rolling out became ridiculously thin as she stopped paying attention to what she was doing. She swore softly and rolled it up ready to start again. Then she looked around, sighed, and pulled her wand out, waving it almost idly at the pastry. It vanished to be replaced almost instantly by a beautiful looking steak pie, not as yet cooked, but it was evident even from here that it was bursting with flavour. It was the sort of pie cows strove to become. 

She remembered the Home Maginomics Management classes at Hogwarts with a certain wistful fondness. The classes had been stopped now, of course. Times were changing, and young witches weren't necessarily expected to keep house and cook any more. But she liked that side of things. In that, she closely resembled her sister Petunia, who had married that foul Dursley man she had been engaged to seemingly forever last summer. 

Lily put the pie into the oven and busied herself waving her wand and watched in satisfaction as the vegetables prepared themselves whilst she allowed herself a cup of coffee and the Daily Prophet. 

* * * 

Remus had been delighted to see Peter. Of all his friends, Peter was the one who had been the first to stand up for him when his lycanthropy had been revealed. It had been Sirius and James who had come up with the brilliance of the animagi plan, but Peter had been the first to timidly promise Remus that their friendship wouldn't change, no matter what. 

After exchanging a few polite pleasantries with Remus and Sirius, Peter settled down by the fire that was by now burning in the grate. He was feeling only slightly annoyed because Remus had got the most comfortable chair, but he could graciously concede defeat to the poorly-looking man. 

He swirled his glass of pumpkin brandy around and regarded the pale young werewolf carefully. "Are you SURE it was McGlynn? I thought you had long ago accepted that it was your mother who shot your father." 

Remus shuddered. 

"I can see his face. At the window." He closed his eyes and pointed in a direction: the direction of his bedroom window if he had been lying in his bed that morning. "He was watching the whole thing. When I closed my eyes – which believe me, was preferable to looking down my own father's gun barrel – his was the face that stuck in my mind. I…I think I always knew that the gunshot didn't come from my mother. Yes, she was holding a gun and she threw it away from her at the sound." 

He said no more. The others knew and immediately sympathised. Believing she had shot and killed her beloved husband, Claudia Lupin had lost her mind entirely. She had gone in the space of days from being a light-hearted, loving woman to a screaming wreck of a human being who had spurned her son as the cause of her husband's death. The young Remus Lupin had been turned over to understanding and caring foster parents who knew how to deal with his – particular problem – and who held lengthy and detailed discussions with Albus Dumbledore as the boy neared schooling age. 

Claudia was now resident in St. Mungo's. Remus visited her faithfully every weekend, but every weekend he left feeling guilty, ashamed, miserable and, above all these other emotions, angry. 

For years he had sworn that if ever he came face to face with the werewolf who had left him to this lifetime of torment, he would cheerfully rip out the throat of the miscreant without so much as a second thought. 

Yet oddly, when that meeting had occurred, when Remus had been a boy of thirteen, he had found himself strangely drawn to the filthy stranger who had claimed virtually paternal rights over him. 

McGlynn. 

That was the only name Remus had ever known him by. It was how the man had introduced himself, how Albus Dumbledore had latterly spoken of him and was also the name that Remus automatically associated with the darker, more evil side of his own nature. 

"What I don't understand," came Peter's shrill voice, breaking the pensive silence that had descended, "is why these dreams have come back, Remus. What's prec..precip…um…" 

"Precipitated," murmured Remus, helping his stout friend out as he always had. Peter gave him a grateful look. "What's precipitated them, do you think?" 

"McGlynn," interjected Sirius from his drunken corner of the room. 

His three friends gave him a look bordering on fond annoyance. With infinite patience, in the tones of one who'd had to explain things over and over to Sirius before, James sighed. "We had that conversation already, Siri. Catch up at the back." 

"No, seriously," said Sirius, struggling to pull himself out of the slouch he'd fallen into. "McGlynn. Have we discounted the possibility he's back on the scene? After all, Moony. Last time you got these dreams so vividly, he showed up a few weeks later." 

That same deathly hush settled over the room. The three more sober Marauders exchanged glances with one another. Sirius exchanged glances with the goldfish in the corner of the room and tried, unsuccessfully, to outstare it. 

"It's…conceivable…" considered Remus finally. "Although wasn't he sent off with a flea in his ear by Dumbledore last time? Pain of pain, all that?" 

"Yes," said James. "But he was a big, strong, determined sort of…individual. He wanted you, Remus, and if it hadn't been for Dumbledore's intervention…he'd have had you, too. You'd be leaving your little life stories all over fire hydrants by now if he'd had his way, and don't try to deny it. You were tempted, too, weren't you?" 

The tone was not accusing, rather stating something that was a simple truth. Remus covered his eyes momentarily, then nodded, wordlessly. 

"To be a werewolf fighting against the morals of humanity is a difficult thing to be, James," he said. "To be a werewolf with no such issues…is very tempting sometimes." 

He looked out of the window at the ancient oak tree that stood at the gate of the house. Godric's Oak. The tree that had grown from the acorn planted by the founder of Gryffindor House the year he'd moved out to this settlement. For some reason, Lupin took strength from the oak. In the hundreds of years it had stood it had never changed. It still represented everything a Gryffindor held dear. Stability. Strength. Continuity. 

Remus sighed and pulled his attention away from the tree. 

"If McGlynn has returned," he said, carefully, "then the first thing we must do is to determine which of you will be the Defender." 

The Defender. 

The other Marauders, even the semi-comatose Sirius recoiled instantly. The Defender of the Lives was an old, old title, older even than Godric Gryffindor's oak. The Defender of the Lives swore a blood oath that they would carry out the execution of an individual whose actions threatened the very well being and safety of the wizarding community. When Remus had been thirteen, that dubious title had been shakily accepted by Sirius. 

Sirius shrugged now. "I'll do it," he said, softly. 

"No," came a shaky voice. "You can't, Sirius. You took that obligation on yourself once already. It has to fall to someone else." 

Remus looked up, his heart contracting with a curious mixture of grief and pride at how quickly his friends rallied to the cause of the greater good. "Thank you, Peter," he said, quietly. "Thank you." 


	4. Return to Hogwarts

Disclaimer: The characters and settings, and probably some of the teacups depicted herein are most likely the property of those *delightful* people at Warner Brothers by way of the inimitable J K Rowling. I am not making a penny from using them as the backdrop to a story written for my own amusement and that (hopefully!) of others. So there. 

email me at padfoot@ntlworld.com

**Obligations**

**Chapter Four: Return to Hogwarts**

"This," said Sirius slowly, staring up at the castle entrance, "is too weird."

The five friends - Lily had insisted on coming - stood outside the main entrance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Peter shuddered.

"I feel like a bloody first year again," he muttered. Remus glanced over at him and smiled wryly. Peter was so small and stocky, he still **looked** like a first year, but the young werewolf refrained from comment. His new Defender looked as though he wished the Whomping Willow would knock him as far away from the school as possible.

"Are we going inside, or are we simply going to stand out here looking stupidly impressed by the place?" James was impatient. It had been his idea - no, his decision to come and see Dumbledore. Remus hadn't protested, Sirius had been delighted at the thought of seeing the 'old duffer' again, but Peter had been sceptical. But that had always been his job.  


"Let's do it," said Sirius, pushing the huge oak door which creaked wide open. It was mid afternoon and the halls were all but deserted, most students being in class. The one or two who did pass by cast curious glances at the unlikely quintet, but nothing more. 

Sirius, at the tallest, felt enormous, and this inflated his ego even more than usual. His chest puffed out proudly.  


Sirius. Never took anything seriously. OnlySiriusly. Remus sighed and nudged his friend in the ribs. "Cut it out, Sirius. This is serious" He tried not to notice the grin on the other man's face. Serious Sirius was an old joke amongst the four of them. Instead he just nudged Sirius again, good naturedly.  


Lily had gone on ahead of them to the foot of Dumbledore's tower, and by the time they had reached the door, was shifting impatiently from foot to foot, the door having been opened for her.   


They'd all left school four years ago, yet even now, the sight of the Headmaster's office door open left them all feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Ninety percent of their visits to see Professor Dumbledore as students had been to receive tellings-off. Well. Sirius' visits had been, anyway. Remus had often been called up to see the Headmaster for reviews on how he was doing, James just hadsensible conversations with him and 

Peter never told anyone what Dumbledore said to him.  


It was this particular Marauder now who was the palest of them all. Remus noticed this and automatically moved protectively closer to little Peter Pettigrew. Even he, Remus, the frailest of the group had always felt a sense of protectiveness towards Peter. It had been Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape's fault: the two Slytherin boys had always victimised Peter.  


"It's OK, Peter," he said, light-heartedly. "We're going to see Professor Dumbledore by choice for a change. Come on."  


"I'm sorry, Remus," said Peter in his thin, reedy voice. "It still feels so intimidating standing here" He looked at the foot of the staircase and swallowed.  


Then the five of them plunged forward through the door and headed up the stairs.  
"James! Lily! Boys!"  


Albus Dumbledore's voice drifted to greet them before they even reached his office. James was first inside and the elderly wizard immediately got to his feet and embraced the younger, taller man. "James. You are looking extraordinarily well. And Lily. Beautiful as you always were." He kissed the girl on her cheek and she squeezed his hand affectionately.  


Dumbledore turned his attention to the other three. "Never far behind James are you? Any of you? Sirius. I hope you're doing well."  


"Yes thank you, Professor."  


"And the motorbike?"  


"Fantastic." Sirius launched into a diatribe about how he'd been working flat out on the motorbike to make it into the mean machine it was now. Remus rolled his eyes heavenwards and, to his relief, Sirius was cut short as Dumbledore pushed past him to Peter.  


"Mister Pettigrew."  


"Professor Dumbledore."  


Remus' hazel eyes narrowed at the formal tone behind their greeting and watched closely. The two men kept an almost respectable distance between them, but eventually, Peter offered the old man his hand, which Dumbledore shook solemnly.  


Then he turned his attention to Remus.  


"Remus Lupin. How are you doing, my boy? You look as though you have a terrible burden in your heart. Sit down, all of you." A wave of his hand and a table laden with tea and cakes materialised. Lily automatically started 'playing Mother' and poured out tea for them all. Remus accepted a cup from her with a murmured thank you. She gave him a highly unfamiliar look of support, an almost shy smile, which confused him still further.  


"I'm fine, thank you, Headmaster"  


"Complete shite, Moonythat is, sorry, Professor Dumbledore. Remus isn't alright at all."  


Dumbledore waved aside Sirius' little expletive and fixed his blue eyes on Remus. "What's happened?"  


Remus swallowed. "It'sMcGlynn. He's back."  


The effect of these words on the normally calm Headmaster was phenomenal and instant. He took in the room with a sweeping gaze and lifted his hand, making sure his office door was firmly shut.   


"You are sure of this, Remus? It is not your mind playing tricks?"  


"The nightmares started up again," said Sirius, helpfully, noticing how reluctant Remus seemed to be to open up about his problems. "After Remus' last change, he told me that he thought he'd bitten someone."  


"Remus?"  


The young werewolf covered his eyes with a shaking hand and nodded. "I can't confirm it one way or the other, Headmasterit's one of things you just know that you have done. In here." He moved the hand from his guilt-ridden face to rest over his heart. My lycanthropic self knows great joy, Headmaster. It has spawned. My human selfis falling apart."  


He set down the cup of tea on the table and took several deep breaths. Dumbledore peered solemnly down his nose at Remus carefully, then took in the assembled group.  


"First things first, Remus. Have you yet chosen your Defender?"  


"It's me, Professor Dumbledore."  


The elderly wizard turned to look at Peter, wordlessly. He nodded once. "So be it," he said, not even a hint of surprise in his voice. "And have you chosen the battleground?"  
The others started at this. Last time McGlynn had been on the scene, they had learned the tradition that if two werewolves had to face each other down, then there would be a neutral territory. McGlynn had, last time, picked an ancient Scottish battlefield. 

Remus' lips twitched slightly in reluctant humour as he remembered the way Sirius had looked in a kilt.  


"I have, Headmaster. That's why we're here, of course."  


James opened his mouth to protest that it had been HIS idea that they come to see the old man, but Dumbledore shot him a look of such mildness that he clamped his lips closed again. Typical of Remus to let them think he hadn't got a plan.  


"May I?" The Headmaster rose and crossed the room to stand before Remus. He held out a hand and Remus nodded, standing also. Dumbledore placed a hand to the young man's temple and whispered words of magic.  


"What's he doing?" whispered Peter, just a shade too loudly.  


Sirius narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as he stared at Remus. "I THINK," he said, slowly, "he's finding out what Moony's plan is without us knowing." He sounded more than a little annoyed by this. Sirius liked to know everything.  


"We'll find out soon enough, Padfoot," murmured James, glancing across at Lily. She was looking slightly pale at the mention of the word 'battleground'. She hadn't been part of their little tribe when Remus had confronted his nemesis the first time. She had only known that the four boys had been missing for a few days and had returned to school looking decidedly the worse for wear. He reached over and took her hand in his, squeezing it encouragingly.  


He turned his attention back to Dumbledore who was still standing silently in front of Remus. Then a faint smile flickered across his face.  


"Yes," he mused. "That seems somehowapt, Remus. I do not think I will have any difficulty arranging that for you. Have you told your friends?" he asked, as he released the young man. Remus pushed his lightly-greying hair back from his eyes and smiled a sad little smile.  


"You're joking, of course," he said, mildly. "Can you imagine what they'd be like if they found out before we got there?"  


Dumbledore looked first at James, then at Sirius, and it seemed to be all he could do not to laugh. "I suppose you are quite right - as usual," he said. "Patience is a virtue."  


"Hah," complained Sirius, folding his arms across his chest. "It's alright for you to go on about patience when you're old and grumpy" He ignored the sharp intake of breath and glare that came from Lily's direction. "I want to know what's going on! Remus, tell us!"  


"I've picked a battleground for a confrontation with McGlynn," said Remus, sounding a little tired. "I don't want tospoil the surprise."  


"You are, of course, all my guests for the evening," said Dumbledore, moving the subject around to one that was dear to Sirius' heart. "Dinner will be served shortly in the guest room off the Great Hall." He fixed Sirius with his blue eyed gaze. "I imagine you must be quite hungry after your journey."  


"I still want to know what's goingyeah, actually, now you come to mention it, I am a little peckish." He grinned and slapped Remus so hard on the back that the werewolf stumbled slightly. "Let's go eat. Come on, you lot."  


Sirius strolled jauntily out of the room, followed by James and Lily who cast a concerned look at Remus before they exited, and finally Peter, who seemed unable to rip his eyes away from Dumbledore.  


"You are sworn on this course of action, Remus?"  


"I am, Headmaster," replied the young man sincerely. "I have to face him down, otherwise he'll haunt my life forever."  


"And what of the person you believe you bit?"  


Remus closed his eyes. "I would ask if you could make discreet enquiriesfind out who it was, what happenedif only I could remember."  


"You know I could make you remember if you really wanted to," said Dumbledore, quietly, and it was evident from his tone that he did not want to force Remus into a situation he didn't want to be in.  


"Iknow," whispered Remus, his face pale. "But I don't know if I want to. If you..understand me."  


Dumbledore nodded. He understood.  


"Go and join your friends," he said. "Enjoy this evening with them. Tomorrow you will set out to find McGlynn." He spoke no more words, but there was uncertainty clinging to every syllable.  


As Remus carefully closed the door behind him, Dumbledore thoughtfully pulled out his wand, looked at it, and twirled it in a curious fashion before putting it back in the mysterious depths of his robes.  


"Well, well, well," he murmured. "McGlynn won't quite know what's hit him."  


A smile flickered across his face as he left his own office.  



End file.
